Satchell: 'We've reinvented the Xbox'

Microsoft’s games division CTO Chris Sachell told the attendees of his Gamefest keynote that the firm’s new 360 dashboard, which launches later this year, effectively reboots the console for a wider audience – and presents more chances for developers to monetise their creations.

Last week at E3 Microsoft unveiled the new Xbox 360 experience dashboard – a streamlined, simple interface that also includes elements like player Avatars and deeper detail on games content.

“What this does is reinvent the Xbox,” said Satchell. “I don’t think any one has ever done this before – transformed a console during its lifecycle.”

And developers should care about the change to the consumer-facing element of the console, he said.

“This will bring more people in. The new UI is more approachable and as we broaden our market it is important for reaching new gamers. And there’s also lots of ways to merchandise your content.”

The new guide, which launches this autumn, is “way more approachable for the average person than the current blades system.”

He said that although Microsoft was a format-holder and hardware manufacturer, the firm was continually “reinventing ourselves through software” and that the firm was now offering “much more visceral ways to interact” with games that would keep them engaged in developers creations for much longer.

Last month, Electronic Arts took the unusual, although not unprecedented, step of permitting the release of the source code of Maxisâ??s landmark simulation game SimCity to the public under the GNU Public License version 3.